Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[strobogo]

Think that's what slow down meant. Not physically slow down, but stop taking such horrendous bumps every match.

[Embrodak]

I like Darby a lot, but I find myself genuinely uncomfortable watching him hurl himself onto a steel chair on the floor from the ring in a fucking Rampage match against Jeff Hardy like a week after he was an inch away from snapping his neck on the bottom rope because two big lugs rag doll tossed him eight feet in the air. Would Darby be any less beloved if he saved the big bumps for matches where they might actually get some heat, be memorable, and draw some money by the possibility of them happening? Is Tony insensate to how silly it is, even just from a purely financial perspective, to let one of your top babyfaces literally risk his neck in inconsequential television matches?

[Stiva]

Darby’s matches are attractions because you know you’re getting wild shit in the first minute or so most times out. And he must be doing something right as, in a company where they’ve lost basically everyone to injury at some point, he’s been an ever present. 

[sek69]

At this point I'm convinced Darby is made from superballs.

[Timbo Slice]

Darby has been this way since long before he even decided to take on wrestling and the worry mongering is fucking tiresome. 

[C.S.]

The three biggest stars in AEW history (yes, two of them are also former and once again current WWE stars) absolutely SHINED in the Rumble.

I said it at the time, and I'll keep saying it: Tony Khan getting rid of Cody Rhodes was a catastrophic mistake that continues to have a damaging domino effect on AEW.

Cody was the only grown-up in the room, PERIOD. 

People on PWO can deny it all they want because Cody was involved in a couple of underwhelming "focus grouped" storylines with Luther and Anthony Ogogo, or whatever, but it remains the truth and becomes truer and truer every single day. #FinishTheStory

I won't even get into why the other EVPs not being able to do business with Punk was laughably bush league and something they deserve to be repeatedly mocked for because they damaged the company and left untold millions on the table (and no, I'm not excusing or waving away Punk's actions or culpability by any means), or what a banana peel it was for TK not to do everything in his pocketbook to keep Jade, because both of those are fairly obvious. 

Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs, and eventually MJF will all make the jump as soon as they can IMO. (In MJF's case, I'm convinced he re-signed, so it won't be right away. If he somehow didn't...oof!)

[Embrodak]

23 hours ago, Timbo Slice said:

Darby has been this way since long before he even decided to take on wrestling and the worry mongering is fucking tiresome. 

I don’t really care if he’s some long-standing adrenaline junkie, it’s just not something I’m comfortable seeing, yo. I can appreciate him being Mick Foley meets Rey Mysterio meets Ricky Morton meets Crow Sting, it just seems sensible to say he shouldn’t be allowed to court serious injury in anlmost every outing.

[Coffey]

15 hours ago, C.S. said:

Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs, and eventually MJF will all make the jump as soon as they can IMO. (In MJF's case, I'm convinced he re-signed, so it won't be right away. If he somehow didn't...oof!)

Apparently they're going to lose Aleister Black & Buddy Murphy again soon, too. As Meltzer alluded to on Observer Radio:

Dave Meltzer: "..these freaking House of Black guys never do jobs, and here's the other thing: I was thinking like, what if they win this match and they're just going like, you know like, two of those three guys are going to the WWE. I mean, they're going. As soon as they can go, they're gone. Even though they were treated like shit in the WWE, and they never do jobs here, and they're still going back to the WWE and my thought is kinda like, why do you keep putting them over when you know they're leaving?"

https://www.f4wonline.com/podcasts/wrestling-observer-radio/wrestling-observer-radio-the-resignation-of-vince-mcmahon-royal-rumble-more

[NotJayTabb]

Makes sense, both of them have a wife/fiance in the WWE, and Black was always well-pushed in NXT, so he's got to feel confident of being well-used second time around. Murphy was just a guy in both promotions, so you may as well be just a guy who gets to see more of his partner.

[Jmare007]

I mean, keeping Brody King and Julia Hart is the only thing that really matters for AEW.

Losing Black and Buddy doesn't hurt them at all considering they need to liberate some spots on that roster and giving their problems booking them, nothing of real value is lost.

[Coffey]

I wouldn't mind a Brody King singles push anyway, honestly. Get him away from the stable, might do him some good. 

[NintendoLogic]

Brody's known to be tight with Punk. Is there any chance he could jump?

[strobogo]

Burying talent on the way out always seemed counter productive to me anyway. Trying to lower a talent's value before they move on is damaging to the industry as a whole, which requires a healthy market for everyone to thrive. It also seems petty and something that could impact people wanting to work for you from other companies. 

I don't think it is much of a thing anymore to be worried about people leaving going over. Lose the last match, but no need to start booking people weak because they're on the way out. Andrade was known to be leaving, he was heavily featured in the CC and even got a win over Bryan. It didn't hurt anything.

[NintendoLogic]

I don't know. When you have someone like Malakai who flat-out refuses to do jobs and regularly goes into business for himself on promos, burying them six feet under seems like an appropriate response. Hit the bricks if you don't want to be a team player.

[C.S.]

4 hours ago, Coffey said:

Apparently they're going to lose Aleister Black & Buddy Murphy again soon, too.

Though, unlike Starks, Hobbs, and MJF, AEW loses nothing if Black and Buddy end up leaving - other than the perception of wrestlers no longer wanting to be there, which I guess can be damaging too.

Black is as overrated as it gets, so like Andrade, it'll be another lateral move. (Notice how no one in the Rumble crowd gave a fuck about Andrade? And he ended up being eliminated by Bronson Reed - who I love but is clearly used as a jabroni.)

As for Buddy, he gets to be with his wife, so that's a plus for him (ditto for Andrade). Buddy's push would probably be less in WWE though, not that it's any great shakes in AEW either.

Brody King and Julia Hart are the actual stars of House of Black IMO.

It should have been centered around Brody and Julia from the beginning, with Black as the muscle, and Buddy as the lackey who takes all the pins.

48 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

I don't know. When you have someone like Malakai who flat-out refuses to do jobs and regularly goes into business for himself on promos, burying them six feet under seems like an appropriate response. Hit the bricks if you don't want to be a team player.

Already debunked as DM word vomit BS.

https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/1440367-brody-king-responds-to-report-that-house-of-black-wouldnt-job-in-aew-match

[NintendoLogic]

The broader truth of Malakai not wanting to do jobs isn't BS at all. That's a reasonable conclusion when the elimination cage match on Collision had escape rules, which no other AEW cage match has had, along with the fact that he wrestled zero singles matches in 2023 and thus always had a partner who could eat the pin. Roman Reigns has been pinned more the last two years than Malakai has, for Pete's sake.

[KawadaSmile]

Malakai Black and the Satanist Named Buddy can hit the rocks. Brody and Julia are clearly the most important parts of that act and have outgrown the group for quite a while now.

Really now. KING is cool as fuck, beats the shit outta people, isn't afraid to lose when necessary. He really should've gotten a title run by now but is straddled with those fucking clowns. Set my man free please.

[Dav'oh]

It's not like his parents knew he was going to be a satanist when they named him "Buddy". 

And really, he should be called "Mate".

[El-P]

8 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

The broader truth of Malakai not wanting to do jobs isn't BS at all. That's a reasonable conclusion when the elimination cage match on Collision had escape rules, which no other AEW cage match has had, along with the fact that he wrestled zero singles matches in 2023 and thus always had a partner who could eat the pin. Roman Reigns has been pinned more the last two years than Malakai has, for Pete's sake.

bUt mELtzEr iS LyInG. DiRtSheEt BAd !

All joking aside, yeah, this is ridiculous. Just push Brody if they think they can keep him, but the other two can do jobs for Top Flight and such. What has Malakai done that justify the fact he's so fucking protected ? The guy is full of shit too about wanting to leave. He asked for his release, actually said goodbye in the ring, then was denied his release and said he wasn't saying goodbye but see ya later. Jeeez.

He's been pushed and cuddled since day one, and unlike with Andrade, they made a great job with his presentation from the very start. If he can't do a fucking job properly and they have to change a big match's stip (to make it worse BTW, nothing is worse than idiotic WWE style escape rules) only because he's a diva, add in the fact he's a surefire goner as soon as his contract ends, stop pushing the mofo. There is way too much great talent in this company to waste your precious TV time with a guy who won't do business and doesn't even want to be there.

[El-P]

6 hours ago, Dav'oh said:

It's not like his parents knew he was going to be a satanist when they named him "Buddy". 

And really, he should be called "Mate".

He's a terrific machine in the ring, but he showcases the personality of a dead oyster.

[NintendoLogic]

I do think people make too big a deal out of a Satanist named Buddy as if it were the most ridiculous thing in the world. Is it really that much more ridiculous than Kevin Sullivan, the Satanist with a Southie accent? "The gaahdian of the golden spike..."  

[El-P]

They are not even Satanists, really. Not too sure what they are supposed to be either, really. Malakai Black listens to post-metal, that I know from his music theme. But that's about it. They look as much as Satanists as people who flood the Hellfest every year.

Julia Hart looks like every witchy influencer on TikTok.

[KawadaSmile]

On 1/30/2024 at 10:39 AM, NintendoLogic said:

I do think people make too big a deal out of a Satanist named Buddy as if it were the most ridiculous thing in the world. Is it really that much more ridiculous than Kevin Sullivan, the Satanist with a Southie accent? "The gaahdian of the golden spike..."  

My thing with the Satanist Named Buddy is the contrast. I find it funny that you have MALAKAI BLACK, BRODY KING, and Buddy!

I must say, though, Sullivan cutting promos on the beach saying all kinds of weird shit or shaving Luna's head was more unsettling than most other gimmicks of that kind. Dunno if it's the grainy footage that we have access to, but that shit always looked weird.

 

On 1/30/2024 at 12:05 PM, El-P said:

They are not even Satanists, really. Not too sure what they are supposed to be either, really. Malakai Black listens to post-metal, that I know from his music theme. But that's about it. They look as much as Satanists as people who flood the Hellfest every year.

Julia Hart looks like every witchy influencer on TikTok.

I mean in WWE he kinda was named after Aleister Crowley, so... But then again, aesthetically-wise, they are basically Gaahl, from Gorgoroth, explaining what is the main ideology behind the band.

[C.S.]

I've honestly never understood the appeal of Black.

Okay, I do understand it. Big guy, decent worker, etc.

But his character is not interesting, his personality does not exactly keep me glued to the screen, and his matches are just okay.

Buddy is never gonna be a top guy or even upper midcard, so he may as well go get more money from WWE to be with his wife. I'd make him strictly a tag team guy again. That's a role he can shine in.

He'd even be a better version of the useless, never gonna get over, sex pest, re-evaluate HBK's eye for talent J.D. McDonagh for Judgment Day.

[sek69]

34 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

I must say, though, Sullivan cutting promos on the beach saying all kinds of weird shit or shaving Luna's head was more unsettling than most other gimmicks of that kind. Dunno if it's the grainy footage that we have access to, but that shit always looked weird.

I would say possibly because Sullivan was so committed to the bit people thought he was responsible for all the Benoit stuff 20 something years later. Most people in that role are clearly doing a gimmick, but with him part of  you thought "this guy might be legit", at least you did in the 80s.